Rouhani considering resuming direct flights between Iran and the US

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has asked aviation officials to look into resuming direct flights between Iran and the United States.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivers a speech in the capital Tehran, on September 22, 2013. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has asked aviation officials to look into resuming direct flights between Iran and the United States.

There haven’t been any direct flights between Iran and the United States, where more than 1 million Iranian-Americans live, for more than three decades, after the two countries broke off diplomatic relations following the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Speaking at a meeting in Tehran Monday, Iran's Presidential Advisor and Acting Head of the High Council of Iranians Affairs Abroad Akbar Torkan said that Rouhani "has ordered studying the start of direct flights between Iran and the United States in order to obviate the problems facing the Iranian expatriates' visits.”

Iran is exploring increasing contact with the West as it seeks to resume talks over its nuclear program and get some relief from Western sanctions.